Fleming School Board will allow school staff to be armed

Community weighs in on concealed carry permits for staff

By Callie Jones Journal-Advocate staff writer

Posted:
07/05/2016 10:25:18 PM MDT

Fleming School District took a step Tuesday that they hope will make their school safer for students and staff. Following a community meeting attended by a small crowd the school board voted unanimously to allow one or more employees to be designated as security officers and authorized to carry firearms on school property.

This is something the district has been discussing since January or February. In early June a community meeting was held to get feedback on the matter, around 50 people attended voicing both support and opposition for arming school staff. Following that meeting, the board decided a second was needed to get more feedback.

Tuesday, Superintendent Steve McCracken explained that staff will be allowed to have a concealed carry permit on school grounds, including at athletic events such as football games at the school. However, staff they can't carry their weapons at neighboring schools.

“The program is designed for the security of our staff and the security of our students,” he said, pointing out that while law enforcement does a great job, this is a large county and it could take them as long as 15-20 minutes to respond if there was an incident at the school.

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The response time is mentioned in the resolution passed by the board, it also states that in light of recent incidents nationally the board has determined “it is in the best interest of the district and necessary for the safety and wellbeing of its students and employees” to allow staff to carry.

According to the resolution, one or more current employees who volunteer for this, no one will be forced to carry, will be selected by the board to receive an extra duty assignment as a security officer.

McCraken pointed out that Colorado School District's Self Insurance Pool requires staff who will be armed to spend a certain number of hours training, both in regards to carrying concealed weapons and in schools and at a firing range to ensure proficiency with the weapon. Training is required both initially and on an annual basis.

Board President Scott Muller said how many staff members they have carrying will depend on how many volunteer and how many meet the qualifications and are able to complete the training.

“It's pretty rigid training and it's a huge responsibility, it's something that I would admire anybody for taking on that responsibility and hope that they never ever, ever have to use it,” he said.

Muller noted if they allowed staff to carry, the district would look at having a safety committee that would write up most of the contract details stating what staff members who carry will be required to do.

Some community members expressed concern about the safety of having guns in the school. There was also concern that the district could lose some of its funding by doing this. Muller and McCracken had never heard that, in fact McCracken said the Colorado Association of School Boards has developed policies for exactly this.

There was a suggestion to get in contact with other schools that are allowing this to see what they're doing. Muller said the district has talked to two other.

A question was raised about whether the school or the staff member would be responsible for insurance. McCracken said insurance is strictly the school's responsibility. Muller noted insurance is approximately $600 a year per person.

Another community member asked if the staff will carry the weapons physically on them or they will be put in lockboxes. Muller said that would be something the safety committee would bring recommendations on, but be believes the board is in favor of staff carrying it on their body.

“It would have to be proven safe that it could never be accessed by anyone else and hopefully be accessible to the person who needs it in cases of an emergency,” he told those at the meeting.

Principal Stacy McDaniel was asked for her thoughts.

“I think that we have really investigated this topic. Hearing from the two different superintendents from the two different school districts and the way they operate having staff that carry kind of eased my mind,” she said. “I think the training is rigorous, more rigorous than we can even imagine.”

“I think the board is trying to approach it from every angle and I'm comfortable with that.”

One community member pointed out there is no reliable statistics that say school environment is safer or less safe when staff members carry guns. He asked for other reasons the district is looking at this other than personal reasons.

“I don't think it's personal for anyone, I think it truly boils down to the time. I can't imagine being in place where you can hear guns firing or people whatever and there's nothing you could do,” Dave Etl said.

The community member said it's important not to assume that somehow someone carrying a weapon will be able to prevent a shooting from happening or limit the amount of damage done. Etl agreed, but said “it gives you the potential to maybe stop a bad situation much earlier.”

“I have great concern that for us to endorse carrying by staff and teachers fundamentally changes the culture of the school,” the community member said.

Muller agreed it would change the culture some, but said “it also might make others feel safer too.” He pointed out that he's realized through discussion on this that this likely won't stop an event, because you can't stop it until you know it's happening and by then people will probably have already been shot, but it could help lessen the damage done.

For him, there's not a “fear factor” of having guns in school, he just wants someone there to stop a possible shooter.

Another community member pointed out that those with concealed carry permits don't take them lightly, “its something that you live by day and night, you make sure that your sidearm is always secure.”

Community members agreed that staff need to be well trained.

Muller noted law enforcement is pretty positively behind this, they like that the district is looking at doing this. The Logan County Sheriff's Office will be involved in the training for this, including trainings on campus to get an idea of some of the weak spots and address them.

There was debate about whether the school should have a sign stating staff members are carrying. Some thought it might be a deterrent, but most seemed to agree that people will do what they're going to do regardless of if there's a sign posted. It was pointed out that as it's a small community, most people will probably know staff is carrying regardless if a sign is posted or not.

A District Accountability Committee member encouraged the school to still be vigilant about who let come through the doors and not get complacent just because staff members have a gun.

After voting to approve the resolution, Muller suggested forming a three person safety committee with Shane Schliesser, who is a member of the LCSO, McCracken and Mike Hill. They will make recommendations for the contract stating what staff members who carry will be required to do.

When asked how long it will take someone to get certified to carry a concealed weapon Schliesser said there will be an application process, all applicants will be screened and go through background checks. He suggested they have more than what the minimum insurance requires. Schliesser recommended 40 hours of firearms training; a psychological evaluation; possibly a stress voice analysis (similar to a like detector); and at least a week of active shooter training.

“I think it should be a two week block of very, very thorough training, a hands-on type of training,” he said.

He noted his fear is that the school doesn't have anyone capable of doing this, “but I think we need to set our standards as high as we possibly can.”

There was a question about whether psychological evaluations will be required annually. That's something to be discussed by the safety committee, but Schliesser said they want to know if someone's having issues.

“Because if we get to a point where this is becoming unsafe then we need to rethink this whole thing or we need to start pulling people's guns,” he said.

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